Ceremony | Art Installation | Performance | Gathering
There’s village at home
How do we hold each other when we experience the death of our beloved? What do we do? What do we say? How do we do it?
Egwu Onwu, Songs to Tide Us Over is a multisensory experience and ceremonial installation inviting the community to a shared experience of commemoration, grief, and mutual support through installation, film, photo, performance, cultural immersion & ceremony. This experience is a part of Nkeiruka Oruche’s Obi gbawara’m//My Heart Shattered or What happens after I die? (OGB) project researching and documenting traditions of death and grief in Igbo culture, and the African diaspora.
HOW TO PREPARE
Dress: in your traditional ancestral fits OR tans, greens
Bring with you: A photo or artifact in memory of loved ones who have died,
Bring with you: Cash $, and/or a nutritious dish to contribute to the gathering
EXPERIENCE TEAM
Creative Director & Lead Artist: Nkeiruka Oruche
Performance collaborators: Micheal French, Kanukai Chigamba, Uzo Nwankpa, Natachi, Roshonda Parker, Feline Finesse, Afro Culture Kids
Cultural Guides: Ifeanyi Akabueze, Gloria Ugwuanyi
Visual Art Collaborators: Amarachi Nnoli, Benson Ibeabuchi, Bruna BSA, Ashley Ross, Uchenna Eugene, Skye BdeM, Ariel Ward
Production: Rosemary Joseph, Ariel Ward
ACCESSIBILITY & SAFETY INFO
LOCATION: Activities are primarily held outdoors, with 1 indoor exhibit.
Outdoor, grassy and concrete area on uneven grade. One step at the entrance.
Public Transit/Parking Information
- Limited street parking
- Bus lines: 1, 1 Express, 62
- Fruitvale BART station (3 blocks away)
LANGUAGE: Written Signs, symbols, and oral communication are primarily in English and Igbo
SCENT-FREE/LOW-SCENT SPACE: We ask attendees to be mindful of others and avoid use of scents and scented products: perfumes, lotions, essential oils, sprays, etc
SMOKE-FREE SPACE- Do not smoke 100 feet within event activities
About Nkeiruka Oruche
Nkeiruka Oruche is an Igbo multimedia creative, and cultural producer. She created and directed ‘Mixtape of the Dead & Gone #1’ dance-theater comedy about death and igbo cosmology. She is founder and director of Afro Urban Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to boosting art, media, and the tough-but-necessary conversations of the African diaspora. She co-founded and stewarded BoomShake Music, a social justice and music liberation organization. In 2023, she was on SF Playhouse ‘Nollywood Dreams’ creative team. Oruche was a Dance/USA Artist Fellow, Kikwetu Honors Awardee, a NYFA Immigrant Artist Fellow, and YBCA 100 Honoree, and has received awards from Creative Work Fund, MAP Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and California Arts Council. Her work has been featured in BBC Africa, Goethe-Institut, Fjord Review, Coal City University-Enugu, and Oakland Museum of California. She is focused on deepening and sustaining grassroots change-making, and community wealth through her work, play, and family life.